One Step

The new Washington State ferry Salish is completing builder’s sea trials in Puget Sound. The vessel is expected to begin serving the Port Townsend-Coupeville route this summer, restoring full two-boat service to the route for the first time since 2007.
Contractor Todd Pacific Shipyards is conducting sea trials to demonstrate the vessel to U.S. Coast Guard and WSDOT Ferries Division (WSF) inspectors before WSF accepts delivery of the vessel. Later this spring, WSF crews will begin operational training and familiarization with the Salish on the Port Townsend/Coupeville route to get the vessel ready to sail this summer. “We’re pleased to be getting this vessel on the water for its initial sea trials on schedule and on budget,” said Steve Welch, President.
“These sea trials bring the state one step closer to getting a second new ferry into service,” said David Moseley, assistant secretary for WSF. “Much like our friends in Port Townsend and Whidbey Island, we look forward to the Salish restoring full service on the route.”
The Salish’s sister ship, the Chetzemoka, began service on the Port Townsend-Coupeville route in November 2010.

London: By introducing a new solution for LNG-fuelled ships, DNV and MAN Diesel & Turbo are taking the Quantum concept ship one stroke further. Both the machinery and the hull design and arrangement have been improved. A year ago, DNV launched its container ship concept – Quantum. This concept ship was designed to stir up a debate about shipping innovation. MAN Diesel & Turbo responded very positively, and over the past few months the engine manufacturer and the class society

DNV is taking lifeboat safety one step further. The company claims that maritime lifeboat safety will be enhanced by transferring offshore lifeboat design practices to ships.
The shortcomings of existing free fall lifeboat designs were revealed in a number of incidents related to structural safety, human loads and headway back in 2005. A joint industry project was initiated by OLF (the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association) to find the reasons for these incidents.

North America Western Asia Holdings (NAWAH) agrees to modernize Maqal Port, located in Basra’s urban center on the Shatt al Arab waterway.
The formal agreement is between Iraq’s Ministry of Transportation, the General Company for the Ports of Iraq, and NAWAH.
As part of the agreement, the American company will invest more than $14 million to bring both heavy-lift crane and container handling capabilities to the 93-year-old port

The American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, hails the enactment of provisions in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-281) that bring the industry one step closer to a historic towing vessel inspection regulation to improve safety in the towing industry. Section 701 of the Act requires the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding inspection

Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division hoisted the last piece of primary structure onto the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier 'Gerald R. Ford'.
The lift was the last of 162 superlifts and brings more than three years of structural erection work to a close.
Susan Ford Bales, the ship's sponsor and daughter of the late President Gerald R. Ford and Betty Ford, was unable to participate in the construction milestone but wrote a letter of appreciation to

Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Co. is one step closer to obtaining a deep port license to regasify one billion cu. ft. of natural gas per day at one of its former offshore sulfur mines. The U.S. Coast Guard all but approved the request, citing “sufficient information” to continue processing the application. Once approved, McMoRan’s former $1b offshore sulfur mines will receive a $450m facelift to convert the platforms to regasify liquefied natural gas and then ship it to onshore pipelines

Online crew management system provider CrewInspector.com signed an agreement with Saga Agency (Saga UAB) Lithuanian crewing agency to provide its proprietary crew management system.
Following the agreement, Saga Agency will use software as a service for their offices in Klaipeda and Kaliningrad, receiving ongoing crew manager support and also further software development to ensure internal process requirements are met within the crewing software itself

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) launched the Virginia-class submarine John Warner (SSN 785) into the James River on September 10 at the company's Newport News Shipbuilding division, kicking off the final outfitting, testing and crew certification phase of construction prior to sea trials next year.
"The John Warner team has made tremendous progress over the last year," said Jim Hughes, Newport News' vice president of submarines and fleet support

DNV has developed a class notation for seismic vessels in consultation with key industry players, WesternGeco, PGS and Fugro-Geoteam.
The need to have enhanced redundancy and proper deck arrangements to ensure continuous operation without loss of speed is the backbone of these new technical requirements.
Seismic vessels contain high end computerized technology to find resources below the seabed, and represent a key element in the value chain leading to future offshore field developments

Shipping alliances will lead to market convergence and will reinforce the risk of reducing service quality and sailing frequency as well as free choice for manufacturers and retailers, as well as enhancing prices, according to the European Shippers’ Council (ESC)

The Governor of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, Dmitry Kobylkin, presented the annual report on the situation in the autonomous region.
"We have been confronted with new challenges. A number of countries are leading a fairly aggressive sanctions policy against Russia

The Danish Maritime Authority informed that the Ballast Water Management Convention is now one step closer to ratification following last week’s meeting of United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO).
At last week’s meeting of the IMO Marine Environment

Class Society Joins Joint R&D Project for Bulk Carrier Safety with Germany’s HSVA and other European Research Institutions
Classification society ClassNK announced that it will join a new European Joint R&D project to ensure bulk carrier safety

Alfa Laval said its PureSOx is one of the market-leading alternatives for complying with the sulphur limits imposed by MARPOL Annex VI and its guideline MEPC 184(59), and with January 2015 and the enforcement of Emission Control Areas (ECAs) rapidly approaching

The 60-year-old Mukilteo Ferry Terminal is one step closer to replacement. On Friday, Aug. 22 the Federal Transit Administration signed a record of decision allowing the Washington State Department of Transportation Ferries Division to design and construct a new ferry terminal in Mukilteo, Wash.

The arrival of the 'M/V Westwood Pacific' at the Nanaimo Port Authority’s Duke Point terminal marks the first such berthing at the Port’s facilities and will provide a direct link to Asia.
Westwood Shipping Lines operate a dedicated break bulk and container service to Asia and have

The public is invited to bid “bon voyage” to Washington State Ferries’ (WSF) oldest ship, the 87-car 'Evergreen State', with one last ride from Friday Harbor to Anacortes Sunday, June 29, 2014. Crews will decommission the vessel and retire it from service following this final

During the 70th observance of D-Day, 10,000 surviving World War II American merchant marines, the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots and U.S. Representative G.K. Butterfield will be pressing the Senate to pass legislation giving these veterans benefits they were promised but

Claxton, an Acteon company, has been awarded a multiyear contract with Det norske oljeselskap ASA of Norway: the largest single riser contract in Claxton’s history. Running from January 2014 until June 2020 (with optional periods of 1+1 year)

One year ago, Sailors watched an unmanned air vehicle take-off from a nuclear-powered carrier flight deck for the first time in naval aviation history, says Capt. Beau Duarte , Unmanned Carrier Aviation program manager:
"May 14, 2013 was an extraordinary day for the Navy

President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday he wanted Iran to do a better job of explaining its nuclear programme to prevent "evil-minded" people misleading world opinion, two days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers on its disputed atomic activity.

The new HYPACK feature allows U.S.-based users to quickly obtain the most recent charts provided by NOAA and the USACE at no additional charge.
U.S.-based users who have an Internet connection will be able to download the charts from the USACE and NOAA web-map servers with the click of a